[1st ed] Learning From Las Vegas

First edition of this revolutionary/reactionary study of the Las Vegas strip co-authored by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour. Published in 1972 by the MIT Press, based on a third year studio graduate class taught by the three authors at MIT, and researched and photographed by the students themselves. Book design by Muriel Cooper, the first design director of the MIT Press, cofounder of the Visible Language Workshop at MIT, and the first woman to be granted tenure at MIT's Media Lab. A foundational postmodern text, the book would influence and shape subsequent discourse in architecture, art, literature, and social theory. Tall folio (14.25” x 10.75”), printed cloth boards with color photograph inlay, 189 pages with b/w and color photographs, diagrams, sketches, and elevations throughout. Most of the front panel and flap of the scarce and notoriously fragile printed glassine dust jacket are present; the spine plus the back panel and flap are missing. Protected in a custom mylar cover. Provenace: From the collection of French/American architect, interior designer, and artist Thierry Despont, with this name handwritten on the FFE. Minor bumping and rubbing to extremities. Front cover and flap of glassine dj remains. Bumping and chipping to front cover of dj, with creasing length-wise, and open tear to bottom corner.